Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Purchases Shares of 1,731,383 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,731,383 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $329,725,000. Alphabet comprises about 3.9% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,735,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 98,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,800,000 after acquiring an additional 26,092 shares in the last quarter. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $260,000. Campbell Deegan Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $383,000. Finally, Lighthouse Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,384,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.09 on Friday, hitting $170.87. The stock had a trading volume of 36,230,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,754. The business's fifty day moving average price is $160.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.